COMPENSATIONS 
OF  THE  WAR 

Address  By 

Joseph  H.  Wade,  Ph.  D. 

District  Superintendent  of  School* 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/compensationsofwOOwade 


COMPENSATIONS  OF 
THE  WAR 


Address  by 
The  President  of  the 
Teachers  Loyalty  League 
JOSEPH  H.  WADE,  Ph.  D. 
District  Superintendent  of  Schools 

Delivered  at  the 
Vocational  School  For  Boys 
138th  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue 
New  York  City 

O 


March  11,  1919. 


Compensations  of 
the  War 

ITH  the  ending  of  the  Great 
War  there  must  come  to  every 
thoughtful  American  the  ques- 
tion "Was  it  worth  the  price 
we  have  paid?"  And  the  answer  from 
every  loyal  citizen  should  be  an  immed- 
iate and  decisive  "Yes",  even  though  the 
the  price  was  far  greater  than  it  has  been, 
and  it  has  been  tremendous  in  respect  to 
financial  expense,  loss  of  man  power  and 
in  its  after-effects. 

When  we  consider  that  the  total  cost 
of  our  government  from  the  inauguration 
of  George  Washington  to  April,  1917,  was 
twenty-seven  billions  including  the  ex- 
penditures of  four  wars,  the  second  war 
with  England,  the  war  with  Mexico,  the 
Civil  War  and  the  war  with  Spain,  we 
can  realize  in  some  measure  the  financial 
burden  of  this  war.  According  to  state- 
ments made  by  competent  authorities  the 
United  States  had  counted  on  expending 
in  one  form  or  other,  including  our  foreign 
loans,  more  than  thirty-six  billions  in  the 
first  two  years  of  the  war,  one-third  great- 


Compensations  of  The  War 


er  than  the  entire  cost  of  our  government 
for  128  years.  Then  the  battle  casual- 
ties in  killed,  wounded  and  missing  in  the 
short  time  we  were  actually  engaged 
amounted  to  nearly  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  and  this  number  does  not 
include  the  great  death  list  from  accident 
and  illness  in  France  and  in  the  camps 
and  cantonments  on  this  side.  Again,  we 
must  consider  the  expenditures  in  insur- 
ance and  pensions  and  the  cost  of  the 
after-care  of  the  great  army  of  the  wound- 
ed. But  despite  all  this  we  have  gained 
far  more  than  we  have  lost  or  can  lose  by 
our  entrance  into  the  war. 

With  its  ending  some  messages  of  hope 
and  inspiration  have  been  carried  to  the 
heart  of  the  American  people  which  will 
compensate  in  great  measure  for  all  the 
losses,  sacrifices,  and  suffering  which  we 
have  felt  throughout  our  nation. 

First  is  the  great  happiness  we  must  feel 
in  the  complete  victory  of  right  and  de- 
mocracy over  brute- force  and  autocracy. 
In  the  destruction  of  the  German  menace 


Compensations  of  The  War 


7 


to  the  peace  and  liberty  of  the  world,  in 
the  humbling  of  the  arrogant  Prussian  war 
lords,  the  world  has  seen  again  the  ex- 
emplification of  the  divine  edict  that  those 
who  take  up  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the 
sword. 

The  victory  has  vindicated  the  soul  of 
the  American  people.  Germany  in  its 
blind  egoism  thought  she  knew  our  soul 
but  Germany  never  knew  the  soul  of  any 
nation  but  its  own.  Her  leaders  were 
confident  that  we  could  not  organize  a 
force  that  would  count  in  this  war.  They 
were  certain  that  our  drafts  would  fail, 
that  the  Italians  and  the  Russians  would 
not  fight,  that  the  Irish  would  rebel,  and 
that  her  millions  of  faithful  sons  of  the 
Fatherland,  as  she  called  the  German 
Americans,  could  be  relied  on  for  revolt. 
Furthermore,  their  leaders  confidently  as- 
sumed that  if  we  did  raise  an  army  we 
could  not  equip  it,  and  if  we  did  equip  it 
her  submarines  would  never  permit  its 
transport  to  France.  How  all  this  blind 
assurance  was  destroyed  by  the  great 


8 


Compensations  of  The  War 


success  of  our  drafts,  by  the  transport  of 
our  army  to  Europe,  and  above  all,  by 
the  marvellous  victory  of  those  untried 
men  over  the  finest  troops  of  Germany. 

In  the  victories  that  followed  in  quick 
succession  from  the  18th  of  July  to  the 
signing  of  the  Armistice  our  soldiers  have 
written  a  page  of  heroism  that  is  the  bright- 
est of  all  our  history  and  the  joy  of  every 
American  must  far  surpass  the  sorrow 
that  has  come  to  us  as  a  natural  result 
of  our  entrance  into  this,  the  most  un- 
necessary and  the  most  tragic  war  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

Future  generations  will  revere  the 
memory  of  those  men  for  the  sacrifices 
they  made  on  behalf  of  the  liberty  and 
civilization  of  the  world. 

Secondly,  we  have  every  reason  to  re- 
joice in  our  boys.  From  the  day  when 
President  Wilson  called  for  volunteers 
more  than  50,000  boys  between  the  ages 
of  16  and  22  left  the  high  schools,  the 
colleges,  and  the  universities  of  our  nation 
to  enlist  in  the  Army  or  Navy,  and  hun- 


Compensations  of  The  War 


9 


dreds  of  thousands  of  young  men  gave  up 
their  business  responsibilities  and  their 
professions  to  enter  the  service.  We  had 
been  told  before  our  war  by  pro-German 
speakers  and  pro-German  writers,  some 
in  the  guise  of  pacifists,  that  our  boys 
would  not  volunteer,  that  they  could  not 
be  induced  to  take  part  in  this  war  in 
great  numbers.  Our  experience  has 
proved  such  statements  to  be  deliberate 
falsehoods  or  ignorant  prophecies. 

From  April  6— to  Aug.  15,  1917,  more 
than  1,300,000  young  men  at  the  call  of 
President  Wilson  applied  at  recruiting 
stations  for  service  in  the  army  and  navy, 
of  whom  448,859  were  chosen.  Thou- 
sands of  these  young  volunteers  were  of 
the  first  generation  of  their  families  in 
this  country.  Every  training  camp  for 
officers,  every  training  station  for  marines 
and  naval  reserves  contained  hundreds  of 
young  men  from  our  colleges  and  from 
the  business  and  professional  life  of  the 
country  who  were  the  sons  of  Irish, 
Russian,   Italian,  German,  Polish,  and 


10 


Compensations  of  The  War 


other  nationalities  that  constitute  such  an 
important  element  in  our  American  cit- 
izenry. These  sons  of  our  immigrants 
took  up  the  sword  at  the  call  of  their 
country  as  readily  and  as  resolutely  as 
the  sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Again,  the  great  encampments  and  can- 
tonments which  were  organized  for  the 
volunteer  and  drafted  soldiers  of  our 
country  were  filled  with  the  youth  of  our 
land  who  were  ready  to  give  up  their 
future  ambitions  and  their  lives  if  nec- 
essary, to  support  their  United  States  in 
this  war  for  liberty  and  civilization. 
On  Aug.  1,  last,  13,826  of  our  marine  corp 
were  under  21  years  of  age,  and  when  we 
consider  their  wonderful  courage  in  the 
face  of  almost  certain  death  at  Chateau 
Thierry,  the  immortal  bravery  of  the 
young  men  of  the  77th  Division  in  the 
Argonne  Forest  and  the  dash  and  morale 
of  our  army  in  all  the  lines  of  danger  in  the 
victorious  march  of  the  allied  armies,  we 
have  glorious  reasons  to  be  proud  of  our 
youth.    In  the  making  of  these  young 


Compensations  of  The  War 


11 


patriots  the  public  schools  of  America 
played  the  most  important  part.  These 
boys  received  in  the  classrooms  of  the 
nation  their  first  training  in  discipline 
and  their  first  lessons  in  patriotism. 
What  they  did  "over  there"  was  but  a 
glorious  reflection  of  what  our  loyal 
teachers  did  over  here.  This  is  the  type 
of  patriotic  service  that  will  nullify  the 
efforts  of  those  irresponsible  and  disloyal 
propagandists  who  would  raise  the  red 
flag  of  the  Bolsheviki  above  our  glorious 
symbol  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  stories  of  the  marvellous  courage  of 
our  boys  must  thrill  every  teacher  as 
well  as  every  parent  in  our  land. 

Some  great  phrases  of  this  war  will  live 
for  generations.  The  French  Marshal's 
"They  shall  not  pass",  the  English 
Marshal's  "We  stand  with  our  backs  to 
the  wall"  do  not  surpass  that  answer  of 
our  General  at  Chateau  Thierry,  who  on 
receiving  the  suggestion  from  the  French 
Commander  that  it  might  be  advisable 
to  retreat,  replied,  "It  is  unthinkable  for 


12 


Compensations  of  The  War 


an  American  Army  to  retreat",  and  the 
order  of  the  Colonel  to  his  Captains  to 
take  a  certain  position  and  if  they  found 
they  could  not  hold  that  position  to  go 
forward.  Again  every  loyal  American 
must  be  thrilled  by  the  story  of  those 
boys  of  the  Marine  corps  hurrying  along 
the  road  on  the  17th  of  July  crowded  in 
the  lorries  and  meeting  the  retreating 
French,  many  of  them  terribly  wounded, 
who  cried  out  to  the  Americans:  "Go 
back,  go  back"  "Beaucoup  Boches",  too 
many  Germans.  But  these  boys  only 
stopped  their  songs  and  cheers  to  answer, 
"Go  back  nothing.    We  are  going  to  it. " 

The  third  message  of  hope  speaks  of 
the  generous  spirit  that  animated  all 
classes  of  the  country  in  support  of  our 
righteous  war.  In  the  public  schools  we 
saw  this  generous  support  in  its  strongest 
light.  Thousands  of  teachers  have  seen 
the  poorest  childern  in  their  classes  save 
their  few  pennies  to  buy  Thrift  Stamps, 
to  furnish  their  mite  each  week  for  the 
United  War  Funds  and  to  buy  their 


Compensations  of  The  War 


13 


membership  in  the  Junior  Red  Cross. 
We  have  seen  parents  at  Liberty  Loan 
meetings  held  in  school  houses  come  forth 
at  the  call  to  buy  bonds,  though  we  knew 
at  what  a  sacrifice  many  of  them  were 
purchasing  even  a  $50  bond.  In  all  this 
work  we  noted  that  no  distinction  was 
made  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  between 
Catholic  and  Protestant.  All  our  loyal 
people  joined  in  one  great  band  to  answer 
the  call  for  funds  whether  issued  by  our 
Government,  by  the  Red  Cross,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Knights  of  Columbus, 
the  Salvation  Army,  or  the  Jewish  Welfare 
Board. 

The  fourth  message  of  hope  speaks  of 
the  union  of  races  in  this  country  that  has 
resulted  from  this  war.  Before  our  entry 
into  the  struggle  there  was  a  strong  pro- 
German  and  anti-English  spirit  among  our 
foreign-born  inhabitants  and  naturalized 
citizens.  This  spirit  disappeared  from 
all  excepting  those  who  are  at  heart  and 
who  have  been  at  heart  always  against 
this  country  in  its  prosecution  of  the  war. 


14 


Compensations  of  The  War 


I  have  noted  specially  the  patriotic  spirit 
that  developed  within  the  past  year 
among  our  Russian  Jewish  population. 
The  great  majority  of  these  people  were 
set  against  the  United  States  entering 
the  war.  They  had  seen  enough  of  war 
and  its  terrible  consequences  before  they 
had  left  their  native  land.  They  showed 
this  feeling  in  the  beginning  of  the  war 
at  patriotic  meetings  and  in  their  half- 
hearted support  of  the  first  and  second 
Liberty  Loans.  Everything  changed, 
however,  as  the  war  went  on  and  I  feel 
that  this  change  was  accomplished  by  the 
successful  operation  of  the  draft.  Their 
boys  were  brought  into  the  war.  They 
saw  their  sons  drafted,  often  without 
making  claims  of  exemption.  They  saw 
them  go  away,  and  when  again  they  met 
their  boys  they  saw  them  dressed  in  the 
khaki  of  the  soldier  or  the  blue  of  the 
sailor.  And  these  boys  brought  from 
their  training  stations,  their  camps  and 
cantonments,  the  great  message  of  Amer- 
ican patriotism  that  could  come  to  their 


Compensations  of  The  War  is 


parents  in  no  other  way.  Many  times  I 
have  passed  houses  in  the  poorest  quar- 
ters of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx  where 
I  have  seen  this  message  of  patriotism  in 
the  window  in  the  form  of  a  service  flag. 
In  some  cases  this  flag  was  hung  in  the 
only  window  that  admitted  sunlight  into 
the  room.  It  was  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  the  people  of  that  household, 
no  matter  what  their  sentiments  might 
have  been  in  the  past,  had  become  more 
and  more  American  as  they  saw  the  light 
of  the  sun  shining  to  them  through  the 
Red  Badge  of  Courage— the  service  flag, 
displayed  in  honor  of  their  boy  or  boys 
who  had  left  their  homes  for  the  service 
of  the  United  States. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States  have  we  realized  more 
clearly  this  great  truth,  that  it  is  not 
birth  that  makes  real  Americans.  It  is 
loyalty  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  equal- 
ity. It  is  a  truth  as  old  as  our  nation. 
Even  at  the  very  beginning  of  our  national 
life  some  of  our  leaders  in  the  Revolution 


16 


Compensations  of  The  War 


were  not  Americans  by  birth  or  by  lan- 
guage or  by  tradition  and  yet  such  men  as 
Lafayette,  the  Frenchman,  Kosciusko, 
the  Pole,  and  Von  Steuben,  the  German 
may  well  be  considered  as  fathers  of  our 
country. 

This  union  of  races  will  be  a  wonderful 
blessing  for  our  country.    Thousands  of 
these  foreigners  have  been  led  by  false 
prophets,  who  were  really  agents  for  Ger- 
many in  this  country  doing  their  work 
under  the  guise  of  international  opposi- 
tion to  militarism.    Our  army  and  our 
navy  have  been  filled  with  the  sons  of 
these  people,  and  as  they  fought  and  per- 
haps dyed  with  their  blood  the  battle 
fields  of  Europe  in  support  of  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner,  their  parents  in  this 
country  have  felt  the  thrill  of  the  Amer- 
ican spirit. 

Lastly  we  must  realize  how  this  war 
glorified  the  women  of  our  country.  The 
half-hearted  and  the  timid  told  us  that 
even  if  our  boys  wished  to  fight,  their 
mothers  would  not  let  them. 


Compensations  of  The  War 


17 


Think  of  the  patriotic  sacrifice  that 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  mothers  made 
in  this  country  when  they  sent  their  sons 
away  to  the  camps  and  cantonments  with 
their  blessings. 

Think  of  the  heroic  fortitude  they  dis- 
played when  the  great  lists  of  killed  and 
wounded  began  to  be  published  in  our 
newspapers. 

Think  of  the  sacrifices  of  thousands  of 
educated  and  refined  young  women 
through  all  our  land  who  left  their  homes 
of  comfort  and  even  luxury  to  enlist  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Red  Cross  and  the  many- 
Welfare  Organizations. 

Think  of  what  these  women  have  done 
for  desolated  Belgium  and  France  and  for 
the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Italy, 
Poland,  Russia,  Armenia,  and  Serbia  and 
all  the  lands  that  have  felt  the  scourge 
of  war. 

Think  of  their  work  in  the  hospitals, 
on  the  battlefields,  and  in  the  ruined 
villages  and  towns  of  Belgium  and  France. 

No  one  can  think  of  all  these  splendid 


18 


Compensations  of  The  War 


sacrifices  and  achievements  of  the  women 
of  America  in  this  war  of  compassion 
without  the  fullest  appreciation  of  the 
blessed  message  they  have  given  to  the 
war-worn  world. 

The  war  is  ended  but  the  efforts  of  the 
loyal  men  and  women  of  our  nation  must 
not  cease.    The  work  they  did  was  well 
done,  but  it  is  not  finished.    For  two 
years  the  hope  of  our  country  was  center- 
ed on  our  army  and  navy.    To-day  it  is 
centered  on  the  work  of  our  schools  as 
the  most  important  factor  in  developing 
good  American  citizenship.    Upon  the 
American  teacher  is  placed  the  solemn 
responsibility  of  training  our  youth  for 
a  worthy  heritage  of  the  ideals  of  equal 
opportunity  and  equal  reward  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  law  and  order. 
These  are  the  ideals  which  were  form- 
ulated by  George  Washington,  defended 
by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  vindicated  by 
Woodrow  Wilson. 


Printed  by  the 
Hoys  ol  the  Vocational  School 
1.18th  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue 

New  York  City 


Compliments  of 
JOSEPH  H.  WADE,  PH.  D. 

District  Superintendent  of  Schools 
New  York  City 


